treasures have been arriving

I was enjoying all this treasure the other day, imges people have sent me of things they have been making....ooohhso nice to see and admire

Beautiful silk, collected from the forest of Bihar, hand spun , hand loomed aquired and hand painted by Caryl Plant- what a combination. It along with much treasure will be part of an upcoming exhibition she and her sister Rhyll are producing  called ‘Beyond the Nightingale Floor’ and will be at the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery June 2012

A departing image collected by Cas, the day after Diwali as she was departing Delhi has been transformed into this work in progress- it will be wonderful to see the full results of these women's hearts and imaginations when they are all ready to show.

This next lot was an equal pleasure for Praveen and I to receieve. Our student Kylie [I know that sounds so grand and really she was here for a short period of time but she is the first student to visit us as part of her studies with an Australian University] and it was very exciting and stimulating to show her around and discuss ideas.
This is her final exhibtion basedon Kylie's block designs, carved to her request carved by our connection in Bagru, hand spun, handloomed cottons and Kylie's block designs,  and then printed by Mrs Nandu. Some of the stitching was undertaken by some of our women and much was completed by Kylie [ we realised the time factor in these new undertakings can be longer than expected].

This is the work of her final project for her Bachelor of Design based on interaction with developing world artisans and techniques.

We learnt a lot about what is involved being facilitotors in such a process and found it very stimulating  because it forces to you do things the way you always do them. It also sparkled off many thoughts on where we could go with some of the work we are producing- nothing like Kylie's work but certainly inspried to think out of our square...creative energy is so positive it always leads to more new ideas and positive growth.

Good on you Kylie, may your future be bright :)

 Our long awaited new workshop [ I know not really that long but it sure feels it!] 
I arrived home all excited to get at it and sort everything out to my satisfaction when I got some weird belly thing and have spent about 15 hours a day sleeping for the last 5 days and the rest groaning with a sore belly- not fun...not fun but the sleeping was quite nice.
I usually find it hard to sleep anywhere near enough- too much excitment in life.

 Well now I am perky and loving it....we still have electric supply problems but our brand new generator arrived last night and by tonight that will all be something of the past, that is why the guys are sitting in the sun cleaning garments- no power. You can see where one day we will set up my painiting table.
Above is the entrance to the cutting room on the right and the stitching room on the laft, to the left side is the entrance to the office....my domain :)

 This view shows the entrance to the office directly in front, the door to the left side is the kitchen and across to the right at the bottom of the steps is the entrance to the store room.
Space, beautiful space to be able to keep things sorted out, clean and organized. Almost everything has been cleared from home so all will be in one spot and days can be so much more productive, before this I was always bouncing back and forth trying to find things.
Sagir my office guy is slowly getting a handle of much of the paperwork soon I will actually have leisure time at home because all thinsg will be at the workshop.....Praveen has never really known my like that and I know he will get a surprise with how much I like to read. I have found an Indian website like Book Depository [I do love them but they do not deliver to India no matter how much you beg....and I have tested this out many times]
Exciting future in 2012.

 Our car is off the road and so I have had to rely on Baba support...this is me being ferried home from work yesterday.....good thing about a camel cart is you can lie down, watch the world go by and take business calls all at once. Just after this picture I receieved a business call, plotting and planning with a prospective new client laying in a camel cart....what would she have thought if she could see the pace of life here?

I did give her a clue when another camle cart overtook us along the way....what fun :)

Christmas greetings to all who celebrate this event may yours be truely happy .